Annual Report 2017-17
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Annual report 2016-17 Green Alliance Development team Senior management team Company registered number Shaun Spiers Karen Crane 03037633 Executive director (appointed June 2017) Head of communications Matthew Spencer Josie Evetts Charity registered number Director (left September 2016) Office manager and pa to the director 1045395 Leah Davis Elena Perez Registered Office Interim strategy director/acting Events manager Green Alliance, co-director (secondment ended Marta Silva 11 Belgrave Road, April 2017) Finance manager London, SW1V 1RB Sue Armstrong Brown Frieda Metternich Policy director (secondment ended Secretary Programme manager Jo Rogers, assistant director October 2016) Amy Leppanen Tamsin Cooper Communications assistant Auditors Strategy director/acting co-director haysmacintyre, (maternity leave until January 2017) Associates 26 Red Lion Square, Dustin Benton Sue Armstrong Brown London, WC1R 4AG Acting policy director (from October Paul Arwas 2016) Bankers Duncan Brack Unity Trust Bank plc, Jo Rogers Nine Brindley Place, Assistant director Chris Church Birmingham, B1 2HB Ian Christie Policy team Emily Coats Solicitors Bates Wells Braithwaite, William Andrews Tipper Jonny Hazell 10 Queen Street Place, Head of natural environment Chris Hewett London, EC4R 1BE Angela Francis Julie Hill Acting head of economics and resources The charity and company Hywel Lloyd Amy Mount The Green Alliance Trust Jiggy Lloyd operates under the working Head of Greener UK unit name Green Alliance. Paul McNamee Rebekah Phillips Head of politics Rebecca Willis K Chaitanya Kumar Dimitrii Zenghelis Senior policy adviser Libby Peake Board Senior policy adviser Dame Fiona Reynolds CBE Caterina Brandmayr Chair Policy analyst Philip Parker Costanza Poggi Hon Treasurer Policy adviser Rosemary Boot James Elliot Ben Caldecott Policy assistant Catherine Howarth Anisha George (resigned March 2017) Policy assistant Professor Mariana Mazzucato Danial Sturge Sophia Tickell (resigned July 2017) Policy assistant (left December 2016) Sir Graham Wynne Alison Austin OBE Claire Craig (appointed December 2016) David Baldock (appointed December 2016) GREEN ALLIANCE ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2016-17 1 / CHAPTER TITLE Contents Chair’s introduction 2 1. Our aims and strategy 4 2. Political leadership 9 3. Strong analysis 14 4. Powerful alliances 27 5. Our plans for 2017-18 30 6. Finance and fundraising review 33 Thanks 40 Members 41 1 GREEN ALLIANCE ANNUAL REPORT 2016-17 This was a year of challenge but also of great opportunity for Dame Fiona Reynolds Green Alliance. Upheaval in the political landscape, with the EU Referendum vote, a new guard in government, along with Chair protracted delay in major expected plans, from the carbon plan to the 25 year plan for the environment, were all factors that could have derailed our work this year. But politics is our business and we were already on the front foot in June 2016. Anticipating the possibility of a vote to leave the EU, we gathered strategists from across the environmental sector, well in advance of the referendum, to consider the impact and plan a response. The subsequent formation of the Greener UK coalition immediately after the referendum vote was led by Green Alliance, and has grown into an unprecedented collaboration of environmental groups across a broad spectrum of issues and interests. Green Alliance houses the unit co-ordinating the wider activity of Greener UK, a coalition of 13 of the major environmental NGOs and a host of associated networks and partnerships. We have been ahead of other sectors in developing Photo: David Levenson David Photo: forensic understanding of the parliamentary and legal processes of Brexit. This expertise has enabled us to stay alert to its consequences and possibilities and has established Greener UK as a major force working for the best interests of the UK environment throughout this tumultuous time. From a position where the environment was initially not on the radar at all, Greener UK secured a commitment from the prime minister early on that the government will maintain existing environmental protections beyond Brexit. This was a significant moment and I am extremely proud that we were at the heart of making it happen. It puts us, and the environment sector, in a much stronger position to influence the many decisions which will have to be taken in the years ahead. Despite the magnitude of the Brexit agenda, it has only been one dimension of our work this year. We are acutely aware that Brexit will be a relatively short phase in political history and that we must keep our eyes on the horizon beyond. The government will need ideas to formulate new policy post Brexit and keep the UK’s longer term low carbon transition on track. The big prize, however, will be embedding a positive vision for the UK’s future, underpinned by strong environmental and social protections. At Green Alliance, we strongly believe that the UK will only prosper as a nation by aiming high and aspiring to lead the world in having a thriving natural environment, clean air and water, and a low carbon, resource efficient economy. And our politicians must own this vision. Leaving the European Union provides an opportunity to rethink how we do things in many areas. During the year we have received acclaim for original ideas around farming and land management, aiming to profit farmers, while protecting 2 GREEN ALLIANCE ANNUAL REPORT 2016-17 “The UK will only prosper as a communities from flood risk and improving the natural environment. We’ve suggested a shake up of England’s recycling nation by aiming high and system, in a way that would reduce the cost burden on local aspiring to lead the world in authorities. And we have outlined a futureproof framework for having a thriving natural the new industrial strategy, highlighting that it can only succeed in the long term if it focuses on low carbon development and environment, clean air and resource efficiency. water, and a low carbon, We continue to grow our network, and are forming interesting new partnerships, for instance with leading food resource efficient economy.” retailers, land managers and tech companies. And all this incredible progress was achieved at a time when Green Alliance was without an executive director for nine months. Our departing director, Matthew Spencer, left a thriving and energetic organisation. The trustees were keen to find someone with the vision and political astuteness to take us forward into our next phase in the face of such huge political change. It took us a while to find the right person, but I am thrilled to say that we did and, in June 2017, we appointed Shaun Spiers, former director of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. I would like to thank the staff team, who not only held the fort but drove the organisation forward so skilfully, with dedication and resilience, in the intervening months. Particular thanks go to the senior management team: Tamsin Cooper, Leah Davis, Jo Rogers and Dustin Benton, and also to my fellow trustees who supported the staff during this period. I am also enormously grateful to our many members, partners and funders for their continued belief in Green Alliance’s unique role, at a time when I feel it is needed more than ever. 3 GREEN ALLIANCE ANNUAL REPORT AND SUMMARY ACCOUNTS 2016-17 1 / CHAPTER TITLE Green Alliance is an independent think tank with a powerful network of business and NGO partners. Our work leads to greater political support for environmental solutions in the UK. We believe that pluralist politics, informed by strong analysis, dialogue and public participation creates better policy, and is a powerful route to a greener future and better lives. Active leadership from politicians, civil society 1 and business can accelerate this process by ensuring that Our aims it is fair, has a shared goal and creates a stable investment environment. The conviction that better lives and a better future can and only be achieved by respecting the value and constraints of the natural environment is the defining belief of our strategy staff, trustees and network. The outcome of the EU referendum in 2016 led to a necessary rethink of Green Alliance’s strategy, as the vote to leave the EU has significant implications for all areas of our work. The reorientation of our plans means that we have a new strategy for 2017-20. Our priorities for the next three years are to secure the best deal for the environment as the UK leaves the EU and to build political support for a vision of the UK as a nation aspiring to lead the world with a thriving natural environment, clean air and water, and a low carbon, resource efficient economy, and to ensure that domestic policy is ambitious enough to achieve it. 4 GREEN ALLIANCE ANNUAL REPORT 2016-17 1 / OUR AIMS AND STRATEGY Our objectives Green Alliance works through well networked advocacy, being a trusted intermediary and focusing on outcomes that work for all sides. Through effective politics, smart communications and strategic alliances with our growing network of partners, over the next three years we will be working to build the political saliency of the green agenda in the UK. Three objectives are driving our activity to 2020: __ To catalyse political support for our vision of a ‘high standards UK’, with strong, green ambitions at its heart. __ To secure a good deal for the environment as the UK leaves the European Union. __ To influence ambitious domestic policy for a low carbon, resource efficient economy and a prospering natural environment. 5 GREEN ALLIANCE ANNUAL REPORT 2016-17 1 / OUR AIMS AND STRATEGY Our activities We pursue our aims in three ways: __ Inspiring new leadership: we support effective political leadership for the environment by advising on and influencing key political processes, and engaging and informing leading political thinkers and senior politicians on environment issues.